Great Blue Heron

(Ardea herodias)

Where: Richmond, VA • Richmond City Rookery

Notes: By late spring the young heron's at Richmond's rookery are sizeable and have quite an appetite. Fortunately for the parents, the Herring and Shad are still swimming upstream toward their spawning grounds. These make a good meal. The adults occasionally protect a favored fishing spot along the James River and squabbles sometimes break out, when there is trespassing. At other times they are seen standing, almost shoulder to shoulder, like opening day of trout season. The "Great Blues" wade into the currents and wait like statues. Then they strike with amazing accuracy. Their bill becomes a spear and their gullet becomes a purse for a fish or two. The catch is then carried up to the nest, to be regurgitated as a meal.